Murder of Marlene Oakes

The jury deliberated a mere forty-three minutes before releasing a guilty verdict after his trial concluded on July 28, 2003. He was sentenced to life in prison. However, this conviction was reversed upon appeal and he was retried. He was convicted again and received the same sentence.

In 2001, LaLana submitted DNA for a mitochondrial DNA test to be compared to that of the unidentified skull. The type of DNA was easier to obtain but less specific in genetic information. The county initially declined to pay for the nearly $20,000 test but eventually reversed that decision. Oakes' sister had previously offered to sacrifice her retirement funds to pay for it. The testing concluded that LaLana was maternally related to the individual the skull belonged to.

In March 2000, Major's father allowed police to tap his telephone as he made a call to Major, who admitted guilt in the crime. Major was promptly arrested. He later confessed to police and stated he felt no remorse. Major's defense stated a stroke he suffered in 1995 caused him to be "delusional." Major was charged formally in July 2001.

After his release in 1996, he was set to face additional charges from Kentucky officials but due to the statute of limitations and "insufficient evidence", further action was not possible. Two additional boys were confirmed to have been sexually assaulted by Bill Major.

A partial skull, lacking teeth, was discovered a mile from the Major residence by a hunter on November 29, 1981 but could not be identified for years after its discovery. The cause of death was determined to be due to multiple gunshots and through examination the victim was determined to be a white female around 30 years old. Evidence of dismemberment was also noted. At the time, dental records were the primary means of identifying skeletal remains, yet the skull lacked teeth and could not be identified, despite early speculation it belonged to Marlene Oakes. Eventually, traditional nuclear DNA testing was determined impossible due to the deteriorated condition of the bone.

Major remarried in 1981. His second wife reported the sexual and physical abuse to police in 1984 after his children told her that he had threatened to kill the other sibling if one was to report him. Days after being confronted, he threatened LaLana at gunpoint to "keep her mouth shut." He was arrested and convicted in 1985. He served 11 years of a 15-year sentence. Donald and LaLana moved in with their maternal grandmother (Oakes' mother) following the conviction.

On October 11, 1980, Oakes and Major had an argument and St. Hillaire left the property to "cool off". When he returned around midnight, the home was in disarray. Major had dropped the two children off at a neighbor's residence but claimed to St. Hillaire that Oakes had left and abducted the children. He gave several firearms to another neighbor and expressed the desire to move back to his native Rhode Island. St. Hillaire learned about Major's lies two days later and knew that Oakes would not have abandoned her children willingly and alerted police.

Oakes, who kept a diary, wrote at around the time of her murder, she had witnessed her husband sexually assaulting their son, Donald. Bill Major had previously been convicted of molesting two boys in 1975. She made plans to take her son and daughter from the household and travel elsewhere.

Helen Marlene Major (née Oakes; December 7, 1954 – October 11, 1980), best known by her middle name and posthumously by her maiden name, was an American woman who was murdered by her estranged husband, William Alexander Major, in 1980. The victim's partial skull was located near the pair's home not long after her death, but it was not identified until 2001 after mitochondrial DNA testing confirmed the identity of the remains.